


Alive

by Jen425



Series: Influences [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Anakin Is A Good Friend, Background obianidalatine, F/F, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Multi, OC centric, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-12 00:02:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15983306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/pseuds/Jen425
Summary: In which Kelna lives, and she has a chance





	Alive

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the OCs. They’re really important later, I swear! Also sorry for the slow updates.

“How you get into these situations is beyond me,” Kelna huffed, “Anakin Skywalker, you are an idiot, and the fact that Master Kenobi puts up with you is a testament to his skill.

 

Anakin shrugged.

 

“I don’t deny it,” the newly-Knighted Jedi said, “And yet, now the stakes of our relationship are higher, and Obi-Wan really  _ doesn’t _ have to put up with me anymore.”

 

Kelna just sighed, shaking her head.

 

“You’re worse at secrecy than any of the other twenty-odd Jedi relationships that I can safely confirm the rumors of,” she said. And, before he could ask, she made sure to add, “Including Ria and Malii.”

 

Anakin shot her a look.

 

“You really haven’t told them, yet?” he asked. Kelna sighed.

 

“Still a Jedi,” she said. “And so are you and Ria and Malii and Master Kenobi.”

 

Anakin just laughed at her.

 

“And you still agree with me that some parts of the modern interpretation of the Code are kark,” he said, which, yes, true.

 

Even if she hadn’t started seriously considering Anakin’s complaints until she’d become close with Xime and other civilian workers.

 

But, still, she wasn’t as brave as her crèchemates. No matter how much she loved Ria and Malii, she couldn’t risk it, couldn’t risk being the straw that broke the bantha’s back and revealed them.

 

(Had tried, once, and been all but denied.)

 

(…But could she?)

 

Anakin sighed, obviously seeing the conflict on her face.

 

“Look,” he said. “I know that I’m not very good at traditional Jedi matters, but I do know about the heart… and I know that a relationship built on lies won’t last. At least just tell them you know.”

 

Kelna just sighed.

 

“They know I know,” she said. Anakin just shot her another look.

 

“But you haven’t told them,” he said. “Have you?”

 

Kelna looked away from his piercing blue gaze.

 

“No,” she said simply. “I can’t.”

  
  
  


The Clone Wars began. Malii very nearly died on Geonosis, and Ria was nearly beside herself, teal lekku twitching an endless whispered chain of “stay alive, Mate. Stay alive.”

 

Honestly, Kelna was very certain that the only reason she wasn’t just as bad was how much work they had to do.

 

“Tell them, when xe wakes up,” Anakin suggested as she fitted his temporary prosthetic and checked the burns on the stump of his arm. “We’re at war, now, Kelna, and that makes silence only a few steps away from ‘what if’s’.”

 

Kelna laughed.

 

“Well you’re certainly thinking that way,” she said. “When you’re finished with your ‘mission’ escorting the Duchess and Senator to Naboo with Master Kenobi, come back here.”

 

Anakin shrugged.

 

“We’ll be fine,” he said. “And, for the record, teasing is useless when I’ve now seen my Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, tongue-tied. I could love the Duchess for that alone.”

 

Kelna hmmed.

 

“Didn’t you say Master Kenobi stuttered when he tried to talk you out of pursuing him?” she asked. Anakin just smirked.

 

Kelna sighed.

 

“Never mind,” she said. “Just be careful. And, maybe, you’ll even stay still long enough that you won’t break the prosthetic. Or your own flesh.”

 

Anakin just smirked.

 

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll be careful.”

 

Kelna made a note to stock up on non-Bacta bandages because a war is  _ not _ a good time to waste bacta on someone who can’t use it.

 

And to pray that Anakin liked being seen as invincible more than he liked showing off.

  
  
  


Malii woke up, and Kelna felt a knot loosen inside of her. She… could probably admit her feelings, having shied away from it the day she met Anakin when her friend had confessed about Ria.

 

Naturally, the two people she loved the most had chosen each other.

 

She’d thought of this before, of course, but…

 

Something stoped her, every time. Healers were still technically Jedi, and, for all that she agreed with Anakin, another part of her wanted to stay in the safety of tradition…

 

And, well, what if Malii didn’t love her back?

 

Well, for now, she just couldn’t risk it. Not with a war beginning.

  
  
  


“You care more for them than you should,” Xime, a civilian worker and friend, asked her. “Don’t you?”

 

Kelna just sighed, too tired to deny it.

 

“I can’t,” she said. “They risk enough as is.”

 

Xime laughed.

 

“You’re overthinking it,”  he said. “Do you love them or not?”

 

She did. She really did.

 

Oh, if only it were that simple.

  
  
  


“Are you okay?” Anakin asked. Kelna nodded, hesitantly. That explosion would have killed her…

 

She was very glad she knew Anakin was only a system over. Who knew what might have happened if this seemingly minor dispute hadn’t revealed itself in all of its complexity (and connection with the Sith).

 

“I am,” she said. “But I still have a job to do.”

 

“I can stay,” Anakin said. Kelna shook her head.

 

“The War needs the Hero With No Fear,” she says. “And I have a mystery to figure out.”

 

Anakin sighed.

 

“At least get  _ some _ help,” he said. “You’re one of my only friends.”

 

Kelna looked at him incredulously.

 

“I’m your only friend,” she said. Anakin just shrugged.

 

“It’s not inaccurate,” he says. “Just you and the Chancellor.”

 

Hmm. The Chancellor… Something was off about his relationship with Anakin, but Kelna couldn’t quite place it, and Anakin had blown up the one time she’d mentioned it.

 

So Kelna just sighed.

 

“I  _ will  _ contact the Council,” she said, putting a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Now, you have somewhere to be.”

 

Anakin nodded, smiling, slightly.

 

“Just more of the same,” he said.

 

(Kelna wondered about the implacable tone, but shrugged it off. The war was growing tiresome for every Jedi.)

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr @flaim-ita


End file.
